Pippa Middleton to Ride Across the U.S. for a Good Cause

The sister of the Duchess of Cambridge is ready to ride across the United States. She's is part of a cycling team that will make a 3,000-mile journey from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, starting on Saturday.

Middleton and her brother James are registered for the Race Across America in a team with their friend James Matthews. The eight-person team will take part on behalf of a charity named for Matthews’s brother Michael, who died in 1999 after during a descent from Everest. At 22, he had been the youngest Briton to make the summit.

In the past she has skied in an endurance ski race, Switzerland's Engadin Marathon, and taken part in the Highland Cross, a fell run in Scotland.

But now it is cycling – and Pippa has been in the saddle to train for the long distance relay.

In July, she also hopes to compete in the 6.5km Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race on behalf of the BHF.

In a statement, she noted, "I was shocked to learn that nearly three times more women die from coronary heart disease than breast cancer … and I look forward to working with the BHF to highlight to women the risks of heart disease and importantly, how they can reduce them."